Texas Post Game Thread

[UCan3]

Refs. It was only one of the refs, the other two are BE and big game vets and were fine. The perp was unfamiliar and likely was trying to strut his stuff. His whistle blew more times than the others combined.

FT shooting. It will be hard to keep Malachi on the floor at the end of tight games but we'll need his ball handling. Reed continues his inconsistency. We've taken 206 vs opponents' 241 so far. 69.9% vs. 74.7%.

Plaster of Tarris. He should talk to Tiki Barber about overcoming fumbling. Seriously, just a little more awareness of Malachi's magic passes.

End of Clock. Rather than stuffing it in to Alex to dribble within a flurry of hands, let's just let Solo and Braylon float near mid-court.

Moon Mullins. We see more every game from this whiz kid. Serious Maravich vibes (except for the ball handling.) Once he rids himself of silly fouls he'll be on the floor more and it'll become Electric Avenue.

The more Demary-er . Needs to play like a Sr. not a Jr. (which he is in more ways than one right now.). Don't sleep on his team-leading assists and steals. He's also probably going through his longest stretch of top PG opponent's right now, while leading a championship level team. Have faith in the system. He's too talented not to emerge eventually. Just hope it's by March 2026.

Bench press. Our bench is like a 1000W charging mat.

Jaylin and Jayden. Flying before our eyes. Really a similar, bumpy trajectory for both. Coachable players with talent emerging junior year is not surprising and always reduces the fans' stomach gas.

Caravan. Has Alex finally ditched the NBA threes? His game has risen since and it lifts others.

Team vibe. So love the 23 assists on 29 FGs. I'm sure that's what our coaches have been focused on building. Individuality is secondary. Now, once we've inserted more plays for Braylon...

Love that he cuts and takes the bunnies. That's what he should be doing. He is adjusting to what the other team give him - nice to see it!

 

[AllHusky]

Refs. It was only one of the refs, the other two are BE and big game vets and were fine. The perp was unfamiliar and likely was trying to strut his stuff. His whistle blew more times than the others combined.

FT shooting. It will be hard to keep Malachi on the floor at the end of tight games but we'll need his ball handling. Reed continues his inconsistency. We've taken 206 vs opponents' 241 so far. 69.9% vs. 74.7%.

Plaster of Tarris. He should talk to Tiki Barber about overcoming fumbling. Seriously, just a little more awareness of Malachi's magic passes.

End of Clock. Rather than stuffing it in to Alex to dribble within a flurry of hands, let's just let Solo and Braylon float near mid-court.

Moon Mullins. We see more every game from this whiz kid. Serious Maravich vibes (except for the ball handling.) Once he rids himself of silly fouls he'll be on the floor more and it'll become Electric Avenue.

The more Demary-er . Needs to play like a Sr. not a Jr. (which he is in more ways than one right now.). Don't sleep on his team-leading assists and steals. He's also probably going through his longest stretch of top PG opponent's right now, while leading a championship level team. Have faith in the system. He's too talented not to emerge eventually. Just hope it's by March 2026.

Bench press. Our bench is like a 1000W charging mat.

Jaylin and Jayden. Flying before our eyes. Really a similar, bumpy trajectory for both. Coachable players with talent emerging junior year is not surprising and always reduces the fans' stomach gas.

Caravan. Has Alex finally ditched the NBA threes? His game has risen since and it lifts others.

Team vibe. So love the 23 assists on 29 FGs. I'm sure that's what our coaches have been focused on building. Individuality is secondary. Now, once we've inserted more plays for Braylon...

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Another crazy thing to consider. Right now we are away better defensive team than we are on offensive team. If we keep playing defense like this, maybe with a little less fouling, we know Mullins and Reed will make us much better offensively. I think we could be a top ten team in both facets.

We all know what happens when a Hurley team is top ten metric wise in offense and defense.

 

[Scottzer]

Another crazy thing to consider. Right now we are away better defensive team than we are on offensive team. If we keep playing defense like this, maybe with a little less fouling, we know Mullins and Reed will make us much better offensively. I think we could be a top ten team in both facets.

We all know what happens when a Hurley team is top ten metric wise in offense and defense.

Bingo! And, while I get that people are frustrated with the time it takes to convert a combo guard into a point guard in our system - how many of us have looked at Demery’s defensive metrics? Guy is a huge part of why we can compete for the whole thing this year!

 

[REB1094]

Texas had a lot of momentum. Got it to 5, we hadn't made a shot in almost 5 minutes, they were getting to the line at will, I started sweating. About 20 seconds later, it was all over. Solo and Karaban with the clutch daggers

My favorite parts -

• This is where AK is at his best. Moving, cutting, finding open spots. Tarris found him on a few good cuts and that Braylon touch pass was GORGEOUS. And of course a clutch 3 (choosing to ignore the possession after)
• Reed should be unstoppable once he's fully in a rhythm. He's SO skilled in the post. I think BE coaches will swarm him like they did to Sanogo. It'll be up to Tarris to make quick reads to take advantage
• Shoutout Stewart and Ross. Jaylin lost his starting spot but tied his 2nd season high in scoring. Ross lost most of his minutes but still played hard. Both had huge dunks to cap off their nights. These are high quality guys and this team has CULTURE
• There were high level shot making. Best ones that come to mind are: Reibe post fade, Braylon logo 3 and two clean fadeaways, Solo coast to coast layup and clutch deep 3, multiple Tarris post moves, Malachi high finger roll over 2 guys and clutch stepback. Really fun to watch those plays

I'm still high on Silas, he's too good to be this flustered forever. I'm still high on Solo, he's too good a shooter to stay cold forever. Maybe he should take them all from 40 feet!

10-1 OOC is better than I expected with a team that only got healthy last week. This team has what it takes. LET'S GO HUSKIES!

 

[SubbaBub]

Fourth big game in a row where I'm very grateful for Malachi when Demary has disappointed.

Also, nice to see Stewart have a solid game off the bench with the exclamation point at the end.

Not a great backcourt game by anyone but the offense was a lot better in the 1st half with Silas getting the majority of the minutes than it was in the 2nd with Smith getting the majority. That matters, too.

For me, there were a lot of what we used to call empty possessions especially in the second half. Turnovers, missing shots that should be made, awkward passing and decision making, trying stuff that may have worked at lower levels that doesn't work here.

If we need to clean up the fouls, we need to clean these up too. Mostly it's the 4 new guys so hopefully they figure it out by March.

Also need to free up Ball for some easier catch and shoot 3's. Opponents are focused on him and he's working too hard to get his shots from 3. I think that's affecting his percentage. That pull up from the FT line is open all day. Going to be big for us later in the season.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Another crazy thing to consider. Right now we are away better defensive team than we are on offensive team. If we keep playing defense like this, maybe with a little less fouling, we know Mullins and Reed will make us much better offensively. I think we could be a top ten team in both facets.

We all know what happens when a Hurley team is top ten metric wise in offense and defense.

When Silas learns the offense and becomes confident running it, the offense will look 100% better.

Malachi is not here to learn and run the UConn offense. He’s here to be the point guard off the bench and to run offense in the way that he learned to do it the last four years. Yeah, it would be a bonus if he learned UConn‘s offense but it’s apparent that’s not what the coaching staff is looking for from him.

They’re looking for a change of pace from Malachi, which will be difficult for the opposing team to adjust to. Particularly after Silas solidifies and becomes the starting point guard running the UConn offense the way it’s designed.

 

[microfich]

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

'Twas real time. Being there live makes it easier to spot who it was and where he was positioned.
If I'm gonna yell at the refs I wanna be fair, lol.

 

[Waquoit]

UConn had that one stretch where they were just flowing. Texas calls time out and Hurley makes a bunch of subs. They never got that same groove back. I'm thinking the rotation is going to tighten up a bit in the future.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

When Silas learns the offense and becomes confident running it, the offense will look 100% better.

Malachi is not here to learn and run the UConn offense. He’s here to be the point guard off the bench and to run offense in the way that he learned to do it the last four years. Yeah, it would be a bonus if he learned UConn‘s offense but it’s apparent that’s not what the coaching staff is looking for from him.

They’re looking for a change of pace from Malachi, which will be difficult for the opposing team to adjust to. Particularly after Silas solidifies and becomes the starting point guard running the UConn offense the way it’s designed.

I’m not sure it’s Silas offense which is the issue… instead it’s his fouling sending him to the bench. If he can stay on the court, I’d be excited to see what happens.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

'Twas real time. Being there live makes it easier to spot who it was and where he was positioned.
If I'm gonna yell at the refs I wanna be fair, lol.

I will make another ref comment on top of this. The BE refs on this game have a very distinct pattern based on games I’ve seen in person… call the first half one way and then tighten everything up in the second. As a fan, its really maddeningly as their second halves eliminate any game flow and usually produce a ton of free throws in games that end up closer than they should be.

 

[jpeakin]

That was a Larry Bird play. Really special.

Exactly what I thought watching it live.

 

[Hamms30]

I will make another ref comment on top of this. The BE refs on this game have a very distinct pattern based on games I’ve seen in person… call the first half one way and then tighten everything up in the second. As a fan, its really maddeningly as their second halves eliminate any game flow and usually produce a ton of free throws in games that end up closer than they should be.

You're not wrong in wanting a consistent game throughout, but the truth is .. if they call it tight in the first half, they get yelled at and booed and accused of ruining the game because teams are in foul trouble for the rest of the game. If they don't tighten up in the second half, when it gets to fouling time.. teams wind up with 3 fouls to give when they're trying to foul at the end of the game and they get yelled at and booed and accused of ruining the game because they should have called it tighter from the get go.

I’m not sure it’s Silas offense which is the issue… instead it’s his fouling sending him to the bench. If he can stay on the court, I’d be excited to see what happens.

He also got called for a foul because two Texas players fouled each other. Weird night for Silas.

 

[noelle]

I suppose the optimistic theory right now is that a lot of the offensive struggles is due to how fouls are called/not being called gumming up actions they try to run. But if that is the case there's no reason to assume it'll change drastically. If the refs are hostile the offense gets ugly extremely fast because they can't create advantage individually and the 3's are often times not falling. The way to solve this problem is to have more rim cuts and lobs.

Compared to their offense from the past the dunks and rim cuts are a big load of high percentage shots missing from this offense and the major way of cashing in their scheme advantage that's also less variable than 3s. It's the critical part of the "bulletproof" team blueprint of 23/24. I think only a few players like AK are actually hitting this option in the action fast enough. Their main challenge is to get this part of the offense to work. Relying on 3's is highly unstable in the best of times and we are clearly not in the best of times on the shooting side right now.

 

[DRBackup]

Oh, you want them to run wind sprints ala Syracuse and Fran Brown?

No, I want them to shoot FTs until they've made 300.

 

[DRBackup]

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

The only thing I notice is when there is an official under the basket that doesn't blow the whistle, but then a beat late, the guy at halfcourt calls a foul there is no way he could even see. I can totally believe, in this game, that was the third official he's talking about. There were a few of those in this game.

 

[Deepster]

That was a Larry Bird play. Really special.

My buddy said the same exact thing right after it happened.

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

My favorite part was when the two Texas guys ran into each other and we got called for a foul.

It was a foul. Does a dog herd cattle into a pit hole? No, they lead them into the barn. Gators were obviously a different story. Alligators eat livestock, you can’t let them on the farm. Silas just needs to be more aware of who he’s playing and he’ll be fine.

 

[upstater]

 

[thekollieman]

Lmao “who’s that on?”

 

[Excalibur]

I liked him. Plays hard. Clearly has an edge to him.

Totally a player that we'd love if he played for us. But he doesn't so I hate his guts 😀

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[aceboon]

Silas literally pushes the Texas defender into his own man knocking the ballhandler off his path. UConn fans are gonna have to get a grip and acknowledge that this team just fouls a ton, that was the only foul I was unsure of in the 2nd half and then when I to watch the replay I said yup, thats a foul. That foul sent Silas to the bench with foul trouble and they went into the TV timeout directly after and Hurley still didn't challenge despite having to time to review it because he knew it was a foul. That's like the 3rd big non conf game that Silas hasn't been able to get into a rhythm because he's always in foul trouble with undisciplined fouls.

 

[upstater]

Silas literally pushes the Texas defender into his own man knocking the ballhandler off his path. UConn fans are gonna have to get a grip and acknowledge that this team just fouls a ton, that was the only foul I was unsure of in the 2nd half and then when I to watch the replay I said yup, thats a foul. That foul sent Silas to the bench with foul trouble and they went into the TV timeout directly after and Hurley still didn't challenge despite having to time to review it because he knew it was a foul. That's like the 3rd big non conf game that Silas hasn't been able to get into a rhythm because he's always in foul trouble with undisciplined fouls.

I saw a guy that flopped backwards and sold it.

 

[aceboon]

I saw a guy that flopped backwards and sold it.

The staff disagreed and pocketed their challenge